


The Icarus Complex

by estel_willow, mandsangelfox



Series: This Is How A Heart Breaks [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie) Spoilers, Gen, Post-Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Tony has a God complex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-14
Updated: 2015-05-14
Packaged: 2018-03-30 13:51:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3939211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/estel_willow/pseuds/estel_willow, https://archiveofourown.org/users/mandsangelfox/pseuds/mandsangelfox
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Besides he had enough guilt to carry without carrying this, Tony didn't think himself capable. Not this time.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Icarus Complex

The thing about Tony Stark is that he could never accept the things he couldn't control: death being one of them. In all honesty, in the dark of the night when he had no one to put on a show for, he tangled with his demons and the things he just couldn't let go of. And there was enough to go around. Not that anybody would know because Tony Stark was nothing if not a good actor, he'd mastered it at a young age and carried it through into adulthood. _Appearances were everything_ or so his father used to say, he'd put on a show and nobody would suspect a thing. Tony was more like his father than he cared to admit. So much so that it was second nature to lock himself away in his high tech laboratory and play with things best left up to nature or whatever God people happened to believe in. 

_"Mr Stark, the test simulation has failed."_

Tony had never been a religious man, which might explain why he always pushed the boundaries and reached for the stars. You could say he had something of an Icarus complex, wanting to see just how close he could get to the sun before his wings burned up and he fell back to ground with a crushing blow. Though to be fair, ever since he'd strapped a nuclear missile to his back and slipped between the portal separating earth from the far depths of space, he'd been tiptoeing a particularly thin line.

He may have tipped over it if not for Pepper.

Pepper who he was currently ignoring or rather avoiding in his pursuit of doing something that really shouldn't be done, but Tony had never been very good at knowing his limits and knowing when enough was enough. Besides he had enough guilt to carry without carrying this, Tony didn't think himself capable. Not this time. It might have seemed selfless, but Tony was inherently selfish, it was just who he was and he was not willing to accept this, not when he _could_ do something about it. 

People called it arrogance, Tony preferred to think of it as not being willing to give up. 

"Run it again," Tony instructed Friday without even blinking an eye.

_"I have run this test two hundred and seventy three times, the results are not changing. I am sorry, if you would perhaps allow me to contact The Vision: with his knowledge we could obtain an alternative outcome that would be more suited to the one you are hoping for."_

"No, no, Friday," Tony argued as he got to his feet, gesticulating with the laser point clasped in his hands. "I don't _need_ The Vision's help, what I _need_ is for you to run the test again and adjust the levels by ten percent."

If Friday had been human rather than artificial intelligence it would have been easy to imagine a resigned sigh as her voice chimed, _"I will run the test again. I would also like to inform you that the cryogenic freezing process was a success although I doubt Mr Fury or Captain Rogers will be pleased with the way in which that information was used."_

Tony allowed himself a smirk because why wouldn't it have been a success? He'd been involved in it after all. "Yeah, well, Fury and Captain Rogers rarely approve of anything I do." Which wasn't a lie. Sometimes Tony wondered how they got on and off their high horses so often and frequently without coming away bow legged. It was one mystery he was doomed never to solve. It was as he turned on his heel to head back to his desk, to check the test simulation's progress that he got a sudden head rush and he had to reach for the nearby desk to hold himself up.

Whoa, clearly he'd had too much caffeine in the last... how many days, weeks or even months had passed since he'd gone and gotten this crazy idea into his head.

_"Please, Sir, you should go upstairs and rest. I will alert you to any changes in the subject's condition and will update you once I have completed another test. Miss Potts is worried about you."_

Tony shook his head as he was adamant that he was not leaving this laboratory until he'd achieved his goal, he couldn't, he wouldn't; there was no rest for the wicked. "I'll take your comments under advisement," Tony replied dryly. "But..."

_"Yes, Sir, I'll be quiet and run the simulation again."_

"Thank you, Friday," Tony said with a pleased smile as he cast his eyes back to the subject in question, the smile fading somewhat in the corners. "C'mon, kid. Give me a break here."

**Author's Note:**

> Another series, another story!


End file.
